Pena upsets Williams

Photo: Mike Greenhill

By Kurt Wolfheimer at ringside

Ballroom Boxing Inc. moved their boxing card to Friday instead of Thursday and it appeared to do the trick as a near sellout crowd of over a thousand strong witnessed a wonderful night of professional boxing at Michaels Eighth Avenue in Glenn Burnie, Maryland. In the main event of the evening, late replacement light heavyweight Reggie Pena (5-2, 1 KO) pulled the upset, scoring a one sided six round unanimous decision victory over local favorite Willie “For Real” Willliams (12-5-2, 3 KOs). In the co-feature of the evening, DC lightweight prospect Thomas Snow (12-1, 8 KOs) escaped with an unpopular six round split decision victory over Jason Rorie (5-6-2, 2 KOs).

Photos: Mike Greenhill

Photo: Mike Greenhill

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Willie Williams had made a name for himself in the area for his all out action fights and this one was no different. Pena immediately stunned him out of the southpaw stance just moments into the fight, but Williams fought back and seemed take control of the ring. Reggie Pena, an MMA fighter, changed the momentum again late as he stunned his opponent with a heavy straight left and pressed forward. Williams immediately returned fire and forced Pena to hold from a big right as the round came to a close.

Pena continued to land big left hands in two and Williams right cheekbone area began to swell. Both fighters closed the round trading big shots, which went on after the bell.

In round three Williams began to change tactic and went to the body consistently. By round four, Pena was fighting with his mouth open and looked very tired. Williams tried to press the attack but just when I looked like he would go in for the finish, Pena would unleash a big left on the button and it would give him a second burst of energy.

The second wind followed Pena into the fourth and he opened a cut on Williams left eye during a give and take round.

Cut and bruised Williams, pushed forward in the early going of the fifth. Pena saw an opening a caught Williams with a leaping left hand on the chin. Williams, badly stunned, tried to retreat, but Pena would not give him the chance and planted him on the canvas with two punch combination. Pena again went after him with several big left hands as Williams stumbled around the ring. The tank went to empty and Pena had to finally step back and box.

In the sixth and final round Pena again hurt him with a straight left counter. Williams would not quit though and fought back. Every time he would land a right hand though, Pena would back him up with a few looping counters of his own.

All three judges scored the bout in favor of Reggie Pena by scores of 58-56 x 3 respectively.

Pena, who took the fight just two days notice, spoke on his performance and career afterward. “It was tough fight. I am here trying to make the transition from MMA to boxing. I am trying to compete in both sports at the same time. It has been an exciting run. I have a four year old daughter so everything I do is to support my family.”

Washington DC lightweight prospect Thomas Snow came into the ring for the co-feature sporting a solid record of (11-1, 8 KOs) and looked to be a strong favorite over road warrior Jason Rorie of Winston Salem, North Carolina. It wasn’t to be though as Snow had to box on the retreat to barely squeeze out the victory, much to the dismay of the fans at ringside.

Snow did not show the power that his record portrayed as Rorie gave him problems throughout with his good head movement and defense. So Snow stuck to movement and flicked jabs at Rorie in the early going, along with the occasional left hand.

Rorie became frustrated and rushed at Snow as the bell sounded to open the third round. Snow covered on the ropes and even tried to counter while Rorie swung away. Only a few of Rory’s shots actually landed, but they did get the attention of Snow, who went on the bicycle afterwards.

It was more of the same from Snow in round four as he retreated around the ring like he was on a track, while flicking back handed jabs. Rorie did land some shots when he got the chance, but Snow made sure he stayed out of punching range.

The key round for Thomas Snow was the fifth as he hurt Rorie with a body shot and followed up with a couple of nice combinations. Rorie was forced to go on the retreat but eventually recovered.

The fight turned in the sixth and final round as a strong straight right on the chin from Rorie forced him again on the defensive. Rorie tried to follow up with several wide shots but he appeared to run out of gas. Snow ran backwards like he was again in a track meet as the crowd booed until the final bell.

One judge had it 58-56 in favor of Rorie. The other two judges saw it differently as they both scored the bout, 58-56 in favor of Thomas Snow.

“I thought he won maybe one round,” said Snow afterward. “He was a tough fighter and I can’t take anything away from him. He didn’t have a particular style. He fought like a street fighter, but he thought he won so I want to give him a rematch in a month or two and beat him up again, and looked better next time. That was my first in eight months so I looked a little rusty in there.”

A disappointed and frustrated Rorie felt differently afterward. “I should have won” sad Rorie “I hurt him several times. The only time he hurt me was with that body shot in the fifth. He wants the rematch because he knows he lost. It is frustrating because I feel I won so many of my fights but the judges ruled against me because I am the opponent. My record just doesn’t indicate how good a fighter I am.“

Sconiers spent most of the time on the inside as he popped away with three and four punch combinations in the early going. Miller, however appeared to have superior defensive skills as he easily avoided and rolled with any heavy shots, providing several big counters of his own, which seem to give him the edge in the opening two rounds.

Miller was carrying about forty extra pounds and he tired as the bout progressed and his punch output slowed to almost nil, allowing the much busier Sconiers to take the final rounds.

One judge surprisingly scored the bout even at 57-57, but was overruled as the other two judges saw it 58-56 and 60-54 in favor of Sconiers.

Alex, the older brother of middleweight sensation Fernando Guerrero (17-0, 14 KOs), clearly had the better boxing ability and showed it as he dropped Fields in the first minute and a half of the fight with an overhand right. Fields rose to his feet and went on the retreat to try to regain his composure. Alex showed more experience than that of a three fight veteran and calmly walked him down, before sending him to the canvas again with a left hook. Fields went into survival mode and it even looked like he might make it out of the round as the ten second mark sounded with him moving around the ring. Guerrero would not let that happen and planted him on his hands and knees for the third and final time with a picture perfect straight right. Referee Malik Waleed immediately waved the bout off at the 2:55 mark of the opening round.

July remains undefeated.

Suitland Maryland heavyweight prospect Venroy July (3-0-1, 2 KOs) remained undefeated as his scheduled four round contest with Kevin “The Journeyman” Johnson (3-3, 2 KOs) was halted in the second round due to a nasty cut.

The normally heavy handed Johnson had trouble in the early going with the southpaw style of July as he continually got caught with left hands whenever he tried to land any big shots in the opening round. Johnson changed tactics in round two and tried to regain control of the ring as he exchanged heavy combinations while on the inside. It would be to his detriment though, as he emerged from a clinch with a bad cut on his right eyelid. Referee John Gradowski did not see if it was caused by a head butt and ruled the cut came from a punch during the heavy exchange. Time was called and the ringside physician was summoned to look at the cut. After a close look, Johnson was ruled that he could continue.

Knowing that the fight could be stopped from a cut Kevin Johnson let it all hang out and swung way with wild abandon for about thirty seconds. Venroy stayed his ground and continually targeted the eye during the wild exchange. The cut opened even further and bled into Johnson’s eye obscuring his vision. Veteran referee John Gradowski had no choice but to wave the bout off at 1:44 of the second round giving Venroy Barrett the TKO victory.

Dwayne wins battle of the Martin’s.

In the opening bout of the evening, it was a nip and tuck affair as Maryland lightweights Dwayne and Darrell Martin battled it out over four rounds of competitive action. Darrell Martin of Baltimore tried to keep the fight on the outside in the early going but Laurel, Maryland’s Dwayne Martin continually pressed the attack. As the opening round progressed, Dwayne began to find the range as he pushed Darrell back into the ropes with several one two combinations. Early in round two, Dwayne staggered Darrell with a left hook up top. Darrell showed his sixteen fight experience as he was able to weather a barrage of punches as he moved and tied up to recover. In the final two rounds Darrell was forced to trade and actually backed up Dwayne several times. Whenever he had space, Darrell boxed well behind movement and left jabs and appeared to take the final round.

One judge scored the bout 38-38 even, but was overruled as the other two officials had it 39-37 in favor Dwayne Martin, for the majority decision victory.